Dayton's 'unsession' takes aim at outdated laws

The Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul as seen from behind, Tuesday, February 12, 2013. (Pioneer Press: Chris Polydoroff)

You might not know that under Minnesota state law, it's illegal to drive a car in neutral.

It's also a misdemeanor to carry fruit in an illegally sized container.

And if a wild boar gets loose in St. Paul or Minneapolis, the state commissioner of agriculture is required by law to personally capture or destroy the critter.

Those are among the obsolete, incomprehensible or just plain silly old laws that Gov. Mark Dayton proposed scrapping Tuesday as part of his "unsession" agenda for the Legislature.

His initiative includes more than 1,000 ideas to make state government work better, faster, simpler or cheaper.

It's like spring cleaning. The state will get rid of a bunch of useless stuff that it has accumulated over the years, Tony Sertich said at a Capitol news conference. The commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board was substituting at the rollout for Dayton, who is recovering from hip surgery.

Besides the proposed elimination of more than 1,000 unnecessary and outdated laws, Dayton ordered state agencies to use plain language to communicate with Minnesotans and called for making state taxes simpler, speeding up the state's rulemaking process and streamlining environmental permitting.

"The unsession is really about breaking down barriers," Sertich said. "It's about cleaning up the state's books and making state government easier to understand and more efficient. ... You shouldn't need a law degree to read the state laws.

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When Dayton first proposed the unsession, he hoped it would be at the top of the Legislature's agenda this year, along with the passage of a bonding bill and a response to any emergencies that might arise.

But that all changed last week when state finance officials forecast a $1.23 billion budget surplus, shifting attention to possible tax cuts and spending increases.

In a conference call with reporters last week, Dayton likened the unsession to offering a hot dog to a starving person. He thought lawmakers would eagerly accept it. But then the surplus appeared, offering a "sizzling sirloin steak" that diverted the Legislature's attention.

Nonetheless, lawmakers responded favorably to his proposal.

"Gov. Dayton has rightly put a focus on ways we can make our government work better for the people of Minnesota with his 'unsession' legislative agenda," House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, said in a statement.

"We will work with the governor and with legislators on both sides of aisle to move forward with common sense ideas to make our government more user-friendly to the people and small businesses of Minnesota."

House Republicans said Dayton proposed a "good first step," said Rep. Nick Zerwas, R-Elk River. "We're excited to do anything we can to make state government more effective and efficient."

But Senate Republicans want to go further than Dayton. They proposed repealing several laws that the DFL majorities passed last year, including a child care unionization law, a measure that allows prospective teachers to enter the classroom without passing a basic skills test and stopping construction of the $90 million Senate office and parking complex.

The governor issued an executive order directing state agencies to use plain language "which an audience can understand the first time the read or hear it." That includes writing in short, complete sentences and presenting information in easy-to-understand formats.

It will take time for state agencies to implement the plain-language order, Sertich said. They will start with the most frequently used Web sites and documents.

Because of the constitutional separation of powers, the order does not apply the legislative and judicial branches of state government.

"We still wouldn't be able to understand the Legislature and the courts," Sertich joked.

Dayton asked lawmakers to make paying taxes simpler by changing state tax laws to match federal tax deductions, which would save taxpayers' time and hassle when filing state tax returns.

His plan would get rid of the so-called "marriage penalty," but not until next year, and also dump the state's new gift tax, increase estate tax exemptions, expand the working family income tax credit and create new deductions for child care and student loan interest. Those changes would cut taxes for more than a million Minnesotans an estimated $200 million this year.

He also would eliminate the need for small businesses to keep two sets of books -- one for state and another for federal tax records -- by conforming state law to the federal tax code.

For the 40 percent of Minnesotans who have already filed their state income tax returns, state Revenue Commissioner Myron Frans said that if the Legislature passes the tax legislation quickly, his department would make changes for taxpayers or notify them to file amended returns.

State agencies currently take nine to 24 months to write rules to implement new laws. Dayton wants routine and non-controversial rules to be completed in half that time.

The Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources now issue most environmental permits to businesses in 150 days or less. Dayton proposed changes to ensure that 11,000 of the 15,000 permits each year are delivered in 90 days or less and more complex permits would be issued within 150 days.

Dayton hopes to make streamlining state government a routine assignment for lawmakers.

The Legislature's main responsibility is passing a two-year budget in the first year of its biennial sessions. Sertich said the governor wants to make the second year of every session an unsession.